Smile
by Sarin-sama
Summary: Touko has a few different smiles. Most of them are kind, but when she discovers that Natsume and Tanuma are in some sort of romantic relationship, Kaname-kun is subjected to one of her lesser known smiles. (Reposted to fix previous coding errors - thanks a ton to the guest who pointed this out to me!)


Just something random and fluffy because those are apparently the only plots I have when it comes to Natsume Yuujinchou fanfics. Also, I think Touko is a wonderful human being – she needs more love. Hope you enjoy xD

Touko sat contentedly beneath the warmth of their kotatsu, sipping at her tea as Kaname-kun fidgeted about. It was obvious to the woman that he felt a little strange sitting with her without Natsume present, but aside from offering the boy more tea, Touko could do nothing to make him feel less awkward. Takashi-kun had volunteered to run to the grocery store for her a little bit ago, and since Touko could not speed up time, there was nothing she could do to bring him home sooner – the stubborn boy wouldn't let Shigeru buy him a cell phone until he had money to pay for it himself.

So, the dark-haired boy was stuck with just her quiet company for a little while.

Touko observed the boy as he stirred some honey into his tea. He really was a nice boy. Very polite, good-natured, and patient – three things that her Takashi desperately needed.

Hopefully he was just as good a boyfriend to her Natsume as he was an actual friend.

Touko smiled slightly to herself and took a long sip of the hot tea. Their relationship had come as quite a shock to her in the beginning – mostly due to how she found out – but it hadn't taken her very long to warm up to the idea. It had happened about a month ago, now. Touko had been returning from town after a few errands, idly wondering if Takashi would be home when she got there, when she came to the end of her neighbor's property.

The neighbors had a tall wooden face along their property, much taller than the waist-high fence around the Fujiwara residence. As the tall fence abruptly stopped and her own fence took its place along the sidewalk, Touko saw a startling scene playing out on her doorstep.

It was immediately clear to her that Takashi was kissing, or rather, being kissed by Tanuma right there outside her front door. Even though there was a bit of distance between her and them, she knew what she was seeing. Natsume was standing stiff as a board, his arms hanging straight down by his sides, his face beet red, while Tanuma seemed to be the initiator, his hand resting lightly along Natsume's jawline, his body leaning in to close the distance between them, their lips touching ever-so-lightly as if both of them were afraid of messing something up.

Touko had stood frozen to her spot on the sidewalk for a few seconds before backing up a few steps so that they were once again hidden from her sight. Her first thought was "I hope they didn't see me" as she hated the idea of being nosy or invasive, especially when it came to Takashi-kun.

Touko's second thougth however was "They must be dating…"

To be honest, she was a little shocked. To the best of her knowledge, she'd never met anyone who was gay before, and would never have expected Natsume or Kaname-kun to be her first experience with it. During her childhood years and even well into her adult life, it was just one of those topics that wasn't brought up. It was almost a taboo just to talk about it.

She'd never have thought herself to be one of those people who would care if someone was gay or not…But then again, Touko had never put much effort into thinking about it before. It just wasn't ever something that applied to her or her life.

Touko stood behind the cover of their neighbor's fence for a few minutes until she heard the two boys laugh quietly and say their embarrassed goodbyes. Once she heard the front door opening she started forward and met Kaname-kun at their front gate. She was able to conjure up a normal smile and casual tone of voice as she greeted the dark-haired boy and asked him a few polite questions about his well-being before parting ways and heading into her house to put down the things she'd bought in town.

But now that she'd had some time to think and process, she knew exactly where she stood regarding their relationship.

Touko smiled knowingly ahead at Tanuma and rested her chin in her open palm. "It makes me very happy to see how close you boys are," she stated suddenly.

Kaname-kun turned a cute shade of pink and started to string together some sort of response, but Touko continued before he managed to get more than a few stuttered syllables out.

"I know how hard it can be with Takashi-kun and all his secrets – though I'm sure you know a lot more of them than I do – but I'm glad to see that you care enough for him to stick around. I'm sure it means a lot to him, even if he doesn't quite know how to say it."

Tanuma couldn't quite meet Touko's eye, so he looked down at his hands as they wrung together atop the small table. The pink was darkening into a full on blush now, and the boy knew it. "Thank you," he replied a little awkwardly.

Natsume needed as much happiness in his life as possible to make up for all the bad things he's had to endure. If Kaname-kun brought him happiness, then it didn't matter to Touko whether that came through just being friends, or being something more. As long as Takashi could be happy, and could learn to love and trust others, than that was all Touko could hope for. Because if Takashi-kun could let one person know his secrets, maybe he would one day see that she was there to help carry some of his burdens as well.

She suddenly heard the front door being opened and knew that it was Natsume by the way it opened so quietly, as if he were afraid to bother anyone with the sound.

Touko smiled innocently at the boy across the table from her, "One more thing, Kaname-kun…don't you dare break his heart – or you'll have me to answer to."

Tanuma shivered and just stared at the older woman with a slightly shocked expression before turning away to see Natsume in the dining room doorway.

"Ah – I thought those were your shoes…sorry to make you wait," Natsume said quietly, a small smile turning the corners of his lips. He shifted some of the grocery bags in his arms as Tanuma gave a small response back.

Touko stood up, leaving the comfortable warmth of the kotatsu, to take the bags from Natsume's hands. "Thank-you, Takashi-kun – here I'll put these away so you and Kaname-kun can hang out."

Natsume tried to protest, but she shot him down very quickly and shooed the two boys off. She smiled brightly at the two, but locked eyes with Tanuma for a moment. "It was nice talking with you, Kaname-kun."

Satisfied that the dark-haired boy had gotten her message loud and clear (again, he shivered at the intensity of her intimidating smile), Touko told the boys that she'd have dinner ready in a few hours and disappeared into the kitchen to start preparing.

Later, as the two boys lounged in Natsume's room and their studying gave way to idle conversation, Tanuma confided quietly, "I never knew how scary Touko-san could be."

Natsume couldn't picture it – the closest to scary he'd ever seen her was upset over him disappearing for a few days back when that curse had been put on him, but she'd been more relieved than angry, wrapping him into a hug the moment he was close enough to do so.

Nyanko-sensei on the other hand let out an undignified snort and added without opening his eyes (he was in the midst of his third nap that day), "Like a mother bear protecting her cub."

It's nothing special, but I hope you enjoyed it anyways ~ hope the dialogue wasn't too terrible haha having Touko-san threaten anybody seems very unnatural to me, but it's late and seemed like a plausible idea at the time ^u^


End file.
